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About two dozen demonstrators protested outside the Illinois Republican Party headquarters in downtown Chicago on Wednesday as part of a nationwide campaign to bait elected officials into pushing for legal immigration status for millions of students in the country illegally. As frustration has mounted over the lack of federal immigration reforms, so have the tactics of immigrant activists. Thirty undocumented students from Chicago and elsewhere were arrested in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday after staging sit-ins outside the Washington offices of several legislators.

Mauricio Roman was excited to read a text message from a friend spreading news of President Barack Obama's announcement Friday. But the 24-year-old undocumented Little Village resident said he was able to accomplish many of his goals without the policy change. Roman came to the U.S. from Mexico when he was 9 years old. He attended Chicago Public Schools and graduated among the top 15 in his class at Farragut Career Academy High School. Through a private athletic scholarship, he attended the University of Illinois at Chicago and graduated in 2010 after studying international business and economics, he said.

Jan 2 (Reuters) - The California Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that an undocumented Mexican immigrant should be licensed to practice law in a closely watched test case on immigration rights. The ruling in favor of Sergio Garcia came after California legislators passed a bill last year that specifically authorized the high court to allow qualified applicants into the state bar, regardless of their immigration status. (Reporting by Dan Levine in Oakland; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - California lawmakers advanced a bill on Friday that would give immigrant students residing in the country illegally and attending public four-year universities in the state access to a revolving loan fund. The measure, if signed into law, would create the California Dream Loan Program, which would allow universities to voluntarily offer loans for undocumented students who have lived in the state long enough to qualify as residents. Individual students could apply for up to $4,000 a year in loans, which would be held to the same interest rate caps as regular undergraduate loans.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - Florida legislators voted on Friday to allow students who are children of undocumented workers to qualify for in-state tuition rates at public universities and community colleges. Republican Governor Rick Scott said he will sign the bill, making Florida the 20th state to offer children brought to the United States illegally the same tuition as U.S. citizens. The approval of the legislation comes as Scott faces a tight re-election campaign and Florida Republicans look to court the state's influential Hispanic voters.

MURRIETA Calif. (Reuters) - Protesters shouting anti-immigration slogans blocked the arrival of three buses carrying undocumented Central American families to a U.S. Border Patrol station on Tuesday after they were flown to San Diego from Texas. The migrants, a group of around 140 adults and children, were sent to California to be assigned case numbers and undergo background checks before most were likely to be released under limited supervision to await deportation proceedings, U.S. immigration officials said.

Local immigrant advocates today praised the president's order to halt the deportations of some young undocumented residents, though they remain hopeful that Congress will pass a comprehensive law providing a path to citizenship. Alaa Mukahhal, 25, came to the U.S. legally with her parents in 1993, when she was 6, as they fled violence in Kuwait following the Gulf War. When her visa expired, she stayed in Chicago. Despite earning an architecture degree from the University of Illinois, Mukahhal is facing deportation proceedings that started after she applied for asylum.

An alliance of Chicago immigrant advocates called on Congress on Tuesday to give undocumented immigrants legal status when the Democratic majority takes another look at immigration reform in February. "The language in Washington, D.C., is different from the language here at the grassroots level," said Carlos Arango, the executive director of Casa Aztlan, a cultural center for the Mexican community in Pilsen. "This is the agenda that comes from the community. It is not negotiable.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has given preliminary approval to an ordinance allowing municipal identification cards to be issued to anyone living in the city, regardless of the person's legal status. The proposal passed the first of two required votes on Tuesday night, putting San Francisco on track to become the largest city in the nation to issue identification cards to anyone who requests one and proves residence. In June, New Haven, Conn., passed a similar measure, believed to be the first in the nation.

Brothers Elfego and Lorenzo Arroyo each suffers from a deadly liver disease. But despite the urgency of their situation, the Chicago residents have struggled to receive organ transplants. The Arroyo brothers are undocumented immigrants and lack insurance, friends and relatives say. Like others in their situation, they have been denied care that could increase their chances of survival due to their residency status. "We know there are thousands of Latinos and (non-)Latinos with no documents who are facing the same situation," Rev. Jose Landaverde said Monday during a news conference at Our Lady of Guadalupe Angelican Catholic Mission in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood.